Posts Tagged ‘crystal beads’

Top jewelry components of ‘09!

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

Happy New Year!  It’s Wednesday afternoon, and I’m adding your votes, live-blogging style! (My vote is “wood chain“.  My R&T coworkers vote for “picture frame pendants“, “chain on spools“, “resin“…)

I bet this’ll turn out to be a nice shopping list for anyone who wants to make great jewelry.  (Or to buy that person a birthday gift…) :)

  • 1st vote:  Peace sign charms  (@SatinDollCo)Top_10_49-942-08-ap
  • 2nd vote: PEWTER FLEUR-DE-LIS CHARMS (@rhapsodiejandg)Top_10_49-947-19-as
  • 3rd vote: Gunmetal chain . . . but perhaps that’s wishful thinking on my part. I love it! (@CrazyCraftChick)Top_10_40-099-36-9
  • 4th vote:  Filigrees (Andrea Twombly) (in her comment below)Top_10_charms_filigree_goldplate
  • 5th vote: I vote for Swarovski Crystals… ALWAYS!  (@AlsoMrsB)Top_10_45-400-01
  • 6th vote: Gunmetal Oval Chain – like you expected me to say something else? – Suzann@Beadphoria.com (Suzann Sladcik Wilson) (via Facebook — we’re getting responses all over!)Top_10_40-099-33-9
  • 7th vote: Headpins with interesting finials! (Diana B) (in a comment below)Top_10_fancy_head_pins
  • 8th vote: My vote – gemstone faceted rondelles – like this lapis, YUM!!!! http://tinyurl.com/ybl49ee (JustATish)Top_10_21-908-020

Tweet or FB your vote to me and I’ll add them in real time ☺ Dave

Merry Xmas – ornaments by R&T

Monday, December 28th, 2009

Glitter spoiler — don your sunglasses before you scroll down!

Santa lampwork + pearl

Santa lampwork + pearl

Do you ever phone Rings & Things?  If not yet, you should, to enjoy some truly kind customer service.  If you have, you know we have a mighty creative bunch working here.

Today they had a Sales department holiday party.  Their tiny, tinsely Xmas tree was adorned with handmade ornaments.

Above: Lampwork Santa, freshwater pearl, copper wire wrapping, and leather cord.  Below: Chain, wire, crystal bicone beads, brass star charm, and mother of pearl rectangle ring bead.

Star charm + mother of pearl link

Star charm + mother of pearl link

Below: Copper wire, lampwork snowman and gunmetal link, filigree, chain and filigree bead.

Lampwork snowman

Lampwork snowman

Share your holiday ornament ideas below!

Featured beads: Swarovski “by color”

Friday, October 16th, 2009

In which we yank the shroud aside…

Introducing “Search by Color” for crystal beads in our CRYSTALLIZED™ -
Swarovski Elements
section!  Thanks to Melissa for a ton of hard work to make this happen.  (Maybe I should say a gross of hard work…uh…)

screenshot_searchcolor

Now you’re just a click away from seeing every single crystal bead color that we have, laid out in an attractive table.  As you can see, similar colors are grouped together — which makes it easy to build on a color theme, or find a substitute for a color you can’t get.

Let us know how you use “searching by color” in your crystal shopping…

Featured bead: Swarovski 5328 “Xilion” bicone

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

The Featured Bead this time is actually a whole series of beads — one that you probably need to know about!

5328_xillion_23

Coming soon: new #5328 Xilion cut bicone beads from CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements!   You may ask, “Dave, why exactly is this important?”  The reason is that this bead is replacing one of the most popular beads in the world, the #5301 faceted bicone.

The #5301s from CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements are being phased out by Swarovski, and replaced with Xilion cut #5328 bicones.   Swarovski plans to start shipping #5328s in June, and have a full transition before the end of the year.  This new cut is unique to Swarovski (preventing unauthorized imitations), and provides a new, higher degree of brilliant shine.  Here is one more view, in “line art” provided by the manufacturer:

5328_vs_5301_lineart2

So if you’re a fan of #5301s, now is the time to stock up.  They’ll be collector’s items soon!  The most popular colors and sizes of #5301 bicone beads are available at low factory-pack prices when you buy in large quantities.  For information on coatings and finishes, see our free online glossary of crystal coatings & effects.

May giveaway:
* You enter by leaving comments this month
* At the end of May, 2 winners will receive coveted Rings & Things goodie packs!
*
So read the blog regularly, to enter a lot & to see if you won!

“CRYSTALLIZED”? What’s that?

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009

FYI: you’re probably used to seeing the Swarovski® name whenever crystal beads are mentioned.

The Swarovski company has changed the brand name of all its crystal beads.  This is why you’re suddenly seeing this next to (I’m making like a bead maker, and rounding) several hundred items in Rings & Things’ store:

CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements

A really good discussion over at Hands That Create made us realize that people have wondered about this different labeling.  So, a few quick pointers:

  • NO, this is not a new product
  • NO, this is not a new crystal process
  • NO, this is not a new coating
  • YES, these are the same old Swarovski crystals!
  • YES, this is just a new name

For bringing this up, thanks to cmydesigns, zettarose, bronzebullet, and noodles at Hands That Create!

Questions or comments about our crystals, beads, or findings? Leave a reply below!

April giveaway: “DIY Display Ideas”:
* You enter by leaving comments under the March 31 giveaway announcement
* At the end of April, 2 winners will receive coveted Rings & Things goodie packs!
*
So read the blog regularly to see if you won!

R&T goes to Great Lengths to bring you cool designs

Tuesday, November 11th, 2008

The December 2008 issue of Simply Beads magazine has hit the news stands, and Rings & Things’s designs are featured in it!  Check out our latest inspirations for neckwear in a two-page R&T-sponsored design spread called “Great Lengths“.  The four featured designs in the article are these:

  • The Asphalt Jungle” (yes, you’ve seen that before–it’s also been in our Fall 2008 supplement)

Our Great Lengths web page, and the individual Designer Tip Sheets for these projects, all link directly to the products in our online store that each uses.  So it just takes a click to go from admiring to ordering…and on to creating!

Aside from the Great Lengths article, Rings & Things is credited as the source of parts in another 4 projects in the same issue:

To see Rings & Things featured in other issues, you can visit our site’s Simply Beads page.

Even more media sightings of R&T can be found in our “Saw us in a Publication?” page.  It’s a great way to track down exactly which Rings & Things stock those published designers are using, so you can re-create that look!